YSE File Photo
Marcus Eaves had his second big night of the week as the Hopkins County Central Storm took a double-digit first-half lead and then held off the Todd County Central Rebels 76-69 Friday night in Elkton. The game was marked by a total of seven technical fouls that were called during the second half of the contest.
Between the play of Eaves and Wesley Morris, the Storm took a 12-8 lead at the end of the opening quarter. Each scored four points in the opening eight minutes of the contest. Amari Andrews kept the Rebels in the contest early with six points in the first quarter.
Eaves and Morris stayed hot in the second quarter as the Storm began to put a little distance between themselves and the Rebels. The pair combined to score 13 points in the second quarter as Hopkins Central took a 33-21 lead into the locker room at the break.
Technically, and technically is truly the correct word, things began to tighten up a little bit in the second half and tempers began to rise a little bit as well. Five technical fouls were called in the third quarter and two more were called in the fourth quarter. Each bench was assessed one, while players from both teams picked up the other five.
The Rebels used the free throws from the techs to try and pick away at the Storm lead, but Marcus Eaves took over for Central in the second half. Eaves rang up 18 points in the second half and got some deep help from Trevor Weldon, who connected on four 3-pointers over the final 16 minutes. By the end of the third, the Storm was up 55-41.
Hopkins Central would get more big play from Eaves in the 4th quarter and knocked down enough free throws to hold the Rebels off, as they picked up the seven-point win.
Todd Central was paced by Preston Rager, who came off the bench to score 16 points, 13 of them in the second half. Jamison Glass added 14, all coming in the second half of play. Preston Moore and Amari Andrews also reached double figures with 13 and 12 points respectively.
Central’s Marcus Eaves was the top scorer in the game with 32 points. Through the first two games of the season, he is averaging 35 per game. Trevor Weldon finished with 22 points.
Both teams now stand at 1-1 for the season.
HCCHS — 12 21 22 21 – 76
TCCHS — 8 13 20 28 – 69
Hopkins Central (1-1) – Eaves 32, Weldon 22, Morris 10, Hall 7, Hooke 3, Skeen 2
Todd Central (1-1) – Rager 16, Glass 14, Moore 13, Andrews 12, M.Johnson 4, Whitlock 4, Foster 2, A.Johnson 2, Brandon 2
